Fernie Alpine Resort - December 4-5, 2010

Amazing!  This would be the first word that comes to mind to describe the official opening weekend conditions at Fernie Alpine Resort.  At this early point in the season Fernie already has 106 runs open, 44 groomed trails, nine lifts operating and is now open seven days a week.  Before arriving we had heard that Fernie’s base was already substantial, so our expectations for the weekend were high, and we were not disappointed.  The snow pack at Fernie is currently 104 cm.  The powder here could be described as seemingly bottomless, a huge supply.  With powder like this at this point in the season Fernie is a great alternative to going on a backcountry powder search.  Even by the end of the weekend there was still lots of powder left on some inbound runs, with no need to venture out of bounds to search for some powder stashes.

With these great conditions the only wait time to be found was a 30-45 minute wait to purchase lift tickets.  If you have already purchased a Ski More Card be sure to pre register it online before you come to the hill, as those who hadn’t were the cause of the long lines Saturday morning.   Those who had thought ahead and picked up their passes the night before were able to head straight to the lift and start rocking the slopes.  Even with the long line in the beginning, there were little to no lift lines when we were ready to take off.

Fernie offers some of the best slackcountry hikes in interior BC.  With this amount of snow these quick hikes will still be offering great powder for weeks to come.  If you have the opportunity, experience and the proper avalanche gear then check out Outer Siberia, Mammoth Head, Upper Snake Ridge or a bit further is Mongolia Bowl. These faces are out of bounds and unpatrolled so be sure to check out the updated avalanche report that the Fernie Ski Patrol provides daily on the bulletin boards at the top of the runs.

At this point in the season Fernie Alpine Resort is definitely on the top of our list of places to go due to the amount of snow and the lack of crowds.

Visit http://www.skifernie.com/ for more information.

 Heading up Whitepass to the Pow